Abell won’t be eligible to play this season per NCAA transfer rules, but he will help the Musketeers in practice as he’s a solid perimeter defender.

The key for Abell during his season as a practice player: improving enough offensively to warrant more opportunities on that end of the floor. In two seasons at Indiana the Louisville native averaged 3.5 points per game, shooting 45.9% from the field and 45.8% from beyond the arc.

While those are good percentages it’s important to note that Abell attempted just 161 field goals with 48 of those attempts being three-pointers. But on a team with as much offensive talent as Indiana had during the last two seasons, not everyone stood to get the number of scoring opportunities they may have desired.

Ultimately it was Abell’s connection with the Xavier program, which made two prior attempts to land Abell before he committed to Indiana, that influenced his decision to pick the Musketeers instead of Saint Louis.

“They’ve been recruiting me since high school. Things didn’t work out then or when I de-committed from Bradley,” Abell said according to Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Like they say, the third time’s a charm.”

Abell joins a backcourt that currently features returnees Semaj Christon and Dee Davis, with Myles Davis eligible after being forced to sit out all of last season for academic reasons and the highly-regarded Brandon Randolph making his Xavier debut as well.

That quartet is a talented one for the Musketeers to bring into their new conference (Big East).

If all four were to return in 2014, head coach Chris Mack would also have the services of Abell and 2014 commit Edmond “Skinny” Sumner at his disposal.